2013 could be a defining year!
The Good
If the Eurozone settles and allows for a pick up in confidence, then all that money sitting on company balance sheets could start to be invested and we could see a real and exciting upturn in the global economy. Companies around the world have plenty of money to invest, they have been lean since the crash in 2008 and have increased cash reserves as a result. Upturns in economies are driven by the private not public sector, so if confidence returns then we can expect significant growth in the job market and potentially a global explosion of demand for talent.
The Bad
Carrying on as we are and maintaining the wait and see status quo will make an already slow market even worse. Career opportunities will slip away dramatically. As we have seen in 2012, the majority of organisations are recruiting only to replace, few are making investment hires. The fewer the number of jobs available the less the general public is likely to spend, making companies invest even less as they see and consequently contribute to an ever shrinking economy. This is all well reported in the newspapers of course but it makes the reality of the status quo quite frightening.
The Ugly
In plain terms the ugly is a collapse in the Euro, with either Greece dropping out of the bottom or Germany popping out of the top. The latter being the lesser of two evils in the opinion of many economists. Either solution will cause a complete collapse and run on the markets and banks, which will affect every economic zone in the world, no-one will escape. Ironically it could see the world pick up quickly again as countries can devalue and throw off their shackles, but the initial fallout will not just wipe out career opportunities it will lead to a swathe of job losses across the world. A desperate scenario.
So which way 2013 will go is anybody’s guess. Our prediction is somewhere between the good and the bad. We see no movement in Europe, modest growth in the Middle East and solid growth in the Far East. Career opportunities are out there for skilled individuals and we are now talking to more and more people looking to leave Europe to further their careers. The youth of Europe is very much on the move. After a century of settled populations we are back to an era where people will move to where the work is and populations once again become fully mobile through job migration.
Justin Kent - Managing Director
